Global Justice Center Blog

GJC Weekly News Roundup

July 27, 2017

Thursday, abortion rights groups—including the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood— filed a lawsuit against Texas over new abortion restrictions. Six weeks ago, Texas passed Senate Bill 8, which bans the most common and safe type of second-trimester abortion. It also requires healthcare providers to bury or cremate fetal remains, whether they’re from abortions, stillbirth or miscarriages. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and a ruling that the law is unconstitutional. Seven other states have created similar bans, and legal challenges have been filed against the bans in three. This is the third time this year that Texas has defended its abortion restrictions in federal court.

Friday, The New York Times reported on how nondisparagement agreements hide sexual harassment in the workplace by creating a culture of secrecy. They are becoming increasingly common and are often included in the standard employment contracts of many industries, especially the tech industry. They can have a chilling effect that prevents women from speaking up or taking legal action on harassment. Harassers are able to continue their behavior, and women are unable to know the history of their workplaces and colleagues.

Saturday, across the Middle East, public awareness campaigns are pushing to repeal marry-your-rapist laws—laws that allow rapists to avoid criminal prosecution by marrying their victims. The laws are based on ideas that a family’s honor depends on a woman’s chastity, and marriage after a rape can avoid scandal for the family. Activism and women’s education have propelled the movement against the laws. Morocco repealed their law in 2014, and votes are coming in Lebanon and Jordan.

Tuesday, the Guardian published an extended feature piece on Yazidi women. It shares the stories of women who were there when ISIS carried out a mass abduction of women that led to institutionalized rape. It also focuses on the way the Yazidi women are continuing a long history of resistance. “It was only much later in my reporting on how some Yazidi women managed to escape and return,” Cathy Otten writes, “that I became aware of how important stories of captivity and resistance were to dealing with trauma, both historically and in relation to Isis.”

Tuesday, Gillian Triggs, outgoing President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, said that human rights in Australia are “regressing on almost every front” and the government is “ideologically opposed to human rights.” She attributed the worsening human rights treatment to Australia’s lack of a bill of rights, causing the courts to be “very, very hamstrung in standing up for human rights.” She also said that counterterrorism legislation is centralizing government power and impeding on human rights without judicial supervision.

Thursday, over 180 Yazidi women and children captured by ISIS have been liberated since the operation to recapture Mosul began last year. As time goes on, they are coming home with increasing psychological and physical damage. Most women are in shock and sleep for days after their return. Many women are also showing “an unusual degree of indoctrination.”